The prior art knows a method of manufacturing a sorbent material [RU 2007126986, A, B01J 20/20, B01J 20/26, 27 Jan. 2009], offering the steps of forming a layer of thermoplastic polymeric fibers, subjecting it to the treatment with an agent having hydrophobic characteristics, and performing the heat treatment of a material in order to ensure thermal bonding of the fibers, wherein dispersed carbon is used as the agent having hydrophobic characteristics, and the heat treatment is performed for bonding the carbon onto a surface of the fibers, thereafter unbonded carbon particles are removed.
The disadvantage of the known method is its being relatively highly complex. Also, the prior art knows a method of manufacturing a sorbent material for removal of petroleum and petroleum products from aqueous solutions and separation of stable oil-water emulsions [RU 2361661, C2, B01J 20/26, B01D17/022, 20 Jul. 2009] offering the steps of growing a substrate layer in the form of polymeric fibers, consolidating the substrate thermomechanically, producing therefrom a spatially corrugated fabric to be exposed to heat setting at a temperature of 90-120° C., forming layers of ultrafine hydrophilic fiber, superimposing said layers, causing interlayer bonding to occur, and holding the layers for 1-2 hours in an electrolyte solution.
The disadvantages of the known method are its being relatively highly complex and its being relatively unsafe because of use of electrolyte.
The prior art also knows the technical solution [RU 2197321, C1, B01J20/28, C02F1/28, 27 Jan. 2003] which is based on the point that a sorbent material for removal of petroleum and petroleum products is produced by forming alternating layers of a fibrous base saturated with an active agent from the class of alkylcarboxylic acids and a hydrophobisator from the class of aliphatic esters of alkylcarboxylic acids, elements made of a water-shrinkable fibrous material, a layer of reinforcing elements, wherein heat and steam resistant elements configured in the form of bundles or strips of basalt fabric having specific surface area of 200-700 m2/kg are disposed on an outer surface of the sorbent, said fibrous base is made of basalt fibers having a diameter of 0.2-2.0 microns and specific surface are is 700-1400 m2/kg, said reinforcing elements and antishrinking elements are made of basalt fabric, the sorbent comprising the following components, wt. %:
Active agent1.0-5.0Hydrophobisator1.0-5.0Basalt fibrous base having specific surface   70-93.0area of 700-1400 m2/kgReinforcing elements1.0-5.0Antishrinking elements3.0-5.0Heat and steam resistant elements 1.0-10.0
The disadvantages of this technical solution known from the prior art are its relatively high complexity and narrow application field since a material manufactured in accordance with this particular method offers relatively low sorption capacity.
Indeed, according to the invention, in the event of using hydrophobized basalt fibers having specific surface area of 700-1400 m2/kg (or having a diameter of 0.2-2 microns) as the main sorbent component of a material for cleaning water surface to eliminate spills of petroleum and petroleum products it is possible to achieve sorption capacity of a product within the range of 42-46. Such relatively low sorption capacity of a material comes from the point that an influence of basalt fibrous material structure on sorption capacity is overlooked in case of cleaning water surface to remove spills of petroleum and petroleum products.
In terms of the technical nature, the prior art method which may regarded to be the closest to the claimed one is a method [SU 1030319, A1, C02F1/40, C02F1/28, C02F103:34, 23 Jul. 1983] which describes different variants of producing a sorbent for removal of petroleum and petroleum products from water surface, said sorbent being made on the basis of basalt fiber and hydrophobizing additive at the following ratio of components, wt. %:basalt fibers 85-98, hydrophobizing additive 2-15. In accordance with this method, in case of producing such material, a hydrophobizing additive is applied onto a surface of basalt fibers by means of holding the fibers and the liquid hydrophobizing organic silicon compound (additive) in hermetically sealed space at room temperature and shaking for 60 minutes or at a temperature of 200° C. and shaking for 20 minutes.
Implementation of the known method is very time and power consuming objective which makes virtually impossible an option of large-scale and highly effective production of a sorbent material and articles to be made of such material.
Besides, although use of liquid organic silicon compounds ensures, on the one hand, more uniform and full saturation of elementary basalt fibers of the canvas, but nevertheless full saturation of the canvas with the hydrophobizing liquid tends to increase, on the other hand, a density of the canvas up to 80-120 kg/m3 due to capillary force effect. This reduces, in its turn, a size of interfibrillar voids in the material (canvas), thus blocking the possibility of full-fledged utilization of high sorption capacity of basalt fibers towards petroleum and petroleum products.
Therefore, a drawback of the closest technical solution (relevant to the claimed method) known from the prior art is relatively high complexity and relatively narrow application field since a material manufactured in accordance with the claimed method offers relatively low sorption capacity.
The prior art also knows materials useful for the manufacture of products designed for collection of petroleum and petroleum products.
Thus, the prior art knows a material [RU 2007126986, A, B01J 20/20, B01J 20/26, 27 Jan. 2009] comprising a layer of thermoplastic polymeric fibers, said fibers being bound to each other, and a hydrophobic substance bound to said fibers, the hydrophobic substance being dispersed carbon whose particles are 50-1000 Angstroms in size, wherein a share the dispersed carbon bound to the fibers ranges from 1 to 25% of the fiber weight, and the layer of said thermoplastic polymeric fibers is a woven or non-woven fabric.
The disadvantage of the known material is that it offers low sorbent characteristics.
Yet another material known from the prior art is a material for removal of petroleum and petroleum products from an aqueous solution and for separation of stable oil-in-water emulsions [RU 2361661, C2, B01J, 20/26, B01D 17/022, 20 Jul. 2009], comprising a layer of spatially corrugated non-woven fabric made of polymeric fibers having hydrophobic surface and also a layer of ultrafine hydrophilic fibers whose dielectric capacity is at least 1.45 units greater than dielectric capacity of the above-said layer of polymeric fibers having hydrophobic surface, wherein as said ultrafine hydrophilic fibers the material comprises glass, basalt or metallic fibers having a diameter of 1-15 micrometers or a combination of said fibers, and weight ratio of the layer of polymeric fibers having hydrophobic surface to the layer of ultrafine hydrophilic fibers is (2-10):1.
The disadvantage of known material is that it offers relatively low sorbent characteristics.
The technical solution which is the closest, in terms of its technical nature, to the claimed material designed for collecting petroleum and petroleum products is a material based on inorganic fibrous material and a hydrophobizing additive [SU 1030319, A1, C02F 1/40, C02F 1/28, C02F103:34, 23 Jul. 1983], wherein basalt fibers are used as inorganic fibrous material, said basalt fibers having the following proportion of components, wt. %: basalt fibers—85-98, hydrophobizing additive—2-15.
The disadvantage of known material is that it offers relatively low sorbent characteristics.
The reason behind this disadvantage is that sorption capacity parameters of a material produced by means of using solid hydrophobizing materials are much lower than that of a similar material produced as a result of using liquid organic silicon compounds. This comes from the point that canvas made of superfine and ultrafine basalt fibers is a matrix consisting of elementary fibers intertwined densely enough that have a diameter up to 2-3 microns and a length of 10-30 mm. Due to surface filtration, the original dense enough matrix of basalt fibers creates problems for both uniform coating of each elementary fiber with a solid hydrophobizing material and saturation with liquid organic silicon compounds. Besides, although use of liquid organic silicon compounds could ensure, on the one hand, more uniform and full saturation of elementary basalt fibers in the canvas, but nevertheless a full saturation of the canvas with the hydrophobizing liquid tends to increase, on the other hand, a density of the canvas up to 80-120 kg/m3 due to capillary force effect. This reduces, in its turn, a size of interfibrillar voids in the material (canvas), thus blocking the possibility of full-fledged utilization of high sorption capacity of basalt fibers towards petroleum and petroleum products.